The Point Man
by angelinexo
Summary: Did anyone ever wonder how Arthur, as logical as he was, could just accept Cobb's Mal issue? Did ANYONE ever really know Arthur beyond his skeptical, logical ways?


Disclaimer: I don't own Arthur or Cobb, or anything related to Inception. Christopher Nolan does. And I don't even really own Janie. Arthur does.

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><p>Arthur sighed and rolled the die. Four. He rolled it again. Four. A third time. Four.<p>

Nope, this misery was real.

He pocketed the die and rubbed his eyes, tired.

He found it hard to sleep, and it wasn't just the cheap quality of the mattress in this run down motel room he was staying in.

Like Cobb, he found he couldn't naturally dream anymore. Too many jobs. Like Cobb, he had had to use the PASIV in order to dream at all.

But unlike Cobb, ever since the Fischer job, his issues hadn't been resolved. Because nobody even knew he had issues to be resolved.

And Arthur preferred it that way.

He battled with himself internally for a few minutes before breaking and pulling out the PASIV and hooking himself up to it, like he had thousands of times before. He wondered briefly if this was a bad idea before darkness overtook him.

He woke up and he saw her bright green eyes smiling right at him.

"Good morning, sunshine," she greeted with a kiss on his nose. In the moment it took him to blink, she was up and fluttering around the room and gone, and he could hear sounds coming from the other room.

He surveyed his surroundings. Gone was the dingy motel room, and instead was a room lit with an open window, bright green walls, and a comfy, king sized bed. Adorning the walls were various pictures; he didn't have to get a closer look to know who they were of.

He looked down at himself, and gone was the suit and tie he had been too tired to change out of, and instead was a pair of dark blue pajama pants and a simple grey t-shirt. He reached up to feel his hair, and found no traces of gel or product, just his natural, bed-headed hair.

Curious as to where this dream would lead, he quietly got out of bed and followed the sounds of kitchen appliances.

And there she was.

She felt his presence and turned around from the stove where she was cooking bacon and eggs, sunlight pouring through the windows and falling on her soft, brunette, wavy hair. She saw him and she smiled.

Arthur's heart swelled with a feeling that he couldn't quite identify; a mix of longing, regret, sadness, and love.

But nevertheless, he smiled back, one of his genuine smiles that only ever came out in these lone dreams.

"It's about time, sleepyhead," she teased, and her voice sounded like pure music to him. "I was about to pull out a bucket of water if you didn't get up by the time the bacon was done."

Arthur walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, nuzzling his face in her neck, kissing her softly.

"Janie," he whispered. She giggled and swatted him away.

"If you keep that up, the bacon will burnt black," she laughed. She took the pan off the stove to let it cool before turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a proper good morning kiss.

He watched silently as she finished cooking and set the table for the two of them.

She sat down and started eating, and Arthur silently did the same.

"How did you sleep?" she asked casually, before taking a bite of her scrambled eggs. He looked at her, and sunlight glinted off the engagement ring on her left ring finger.

The one he gave to her so many years ago.

She caught him staring at it, and she froze immediately, an eerie silence settling over the room.

"The same as usual," Arthur quickly answered, and just like that, the eerie silence was gone and things were back to normal. "How's the baby doing?" he asked, the first sign that he had even noticed her protruding belly.

"She has a name," Janie said coldly, and the ambiance of the room changed ever so slightly at her words.

Arthur gulped before he corrected himself. "How is… how is little Emma doing?" His voice quavered as she spoke her name.

Janie smiled, but it seemed more forced than before. "She's doing wonderfully. I heard her heartbeat at the last appointment. It was beautiful. I wish you could've been there, but I understand you had work." Her voice carried no indication of any resentment, but Arthur could feel the guilt growing inside him.

He grabbed her hand from across the table and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly. "You're absolutely beautiful, you know that?" there was so much love in his words, Janie couldn't help but smile. "Emma… she's gonna be quite a beauty with a mother like you. Gonna have to beat those boys away. Maybe I should invest in a shotgun."

Janie let out a laugh that echoed throughout the cozy house, and Arthur gave one of his rare real smiles.

"You know, she's gonna hate you if you do. Me, I wanna be the cool mom who she can tell things to," Janie admitted.

"I can't wait. My two favorite, beautiful girls," he said dreamily, kissing her knuckles again. "C'mere." He tugged her hand so that she got up and sat on his lap.

"Baby," Janie whined, but she was smiling the whole time. "I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too," he whispered softly. "More than you'll ever know." He kissed her passionately, his hands holding her safely by the waist, as if protecting their unborn child as well.

"Hey," Arthur said after pulling away, "Let's go have a picnic. You and me. And Emma," he added with a smile, "Just like we used to. I can whip up some mac and cheese to go with my infamous ham and cheese sandwiches. "

Janie's eyes lit up at his suggestion, and Arthur's heart fluttered.

"What a wonderful idea," Janie smiled. She stood up and kissed Arthur on the cheek. "I'm just gonna shower and dress. Do you mind cleaning up?"

"Not at all," Arthur smiled. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and was off.

As soon as he heard the shower running, he pulled out his totem. It felt weightless in his hand, and his heart sunk. He rolled the die anyway. Four. His heart fluttered with hope. He rolled it again. A one.

He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"None of this is real."

Arthur's eyes snapped open at the voice and was surprised to see Cobb standing in his kitchen.

"How long have you been standing there?" Arthur asked.

"It doesn't matter. _She_ isn't real," Cobb said softly. "But you already knew that."

"What are you doing here?" Arthur asked. The man he had been with Janie was gone, and back was Arthur, the Point Man.

Cobb slowly started walking around the kitchen, not immediately answering Arthur. He inspected a picture that was hanging on the wall; a picture of Arthur, clad in jeans and a t-shirt, holding the woman, Janie, in his arms, laughing at the camera. It was startling to see this whole other side of Arthur, of the man that was the closest thing Cobb had to a best friend.

"Nobody had heard from you since the Fischer case," Cobb explained. "We were getting worried."

"Ariadne sent you, didn't she?" Arthur smirked slightly.

Cobb shrugged. "You know how she worries. Especially after she confessed to me that you kissed her, and she didn't know what it meant."

"That was a mistake," Arthur instantly defended, mentally kicking himself for his previous actions. "It never should've happened."

"Clearly," Cobb said, making his way to the fridge and pausing at the sonogram hanging by a magnet. "You're married and expecting a child."

"Engaged," Arthur corrected softly. "_Was_ engaged."

"It doesn't matter," Cobb said a little sharply. "You have to leave."

"No," Arthur argued. "I can't. You have to… You _must_ understand."

"I do, and that's why I'm telling you you have to leave. You can't get sucked in. Don't let her turn into a Mal."

"She's nothing like Mal," Arthur shot back, his voice rising slightly. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "This is completely different from you and Mal. Totally different." But even as he said the words, he knew he was wrong.

"Arthur," Cobb's voice was softer. He knew exactly how Arthur was feeling. And it sucked. He was just amazed that Arthur could have hidden all this from him for so long. "You're different. Here. With her."

"I'm happy," Arthur said simply.

"You_ feel_?" Cobb teased with brows raised. Arthur laughed lightly.

"I do. I did."

"Ariadne…"

"Is just a young girl, who's brightness and ambition reminded me of myself when I first started. I was intrigued. Nothing more."

Just then, the shower turned off. Arthur looked at Cobb.

"You have to go," Arthur said, panicky. "She can't know you're here…"

"Why not?"

"Let's just say she doesn't really care for you," Arthur said, trying to find somewhere for Cobb to go.

"But I've never even met her! Wait, she's a projection of your self-conscious. Do you have a problem with me?" Cobb asked.

"Baby, are you talking to someone? Who's there?" Janie called out. She emerged from the bathroom in a fluffy white bathrobe, her pregnant belly slightly more noticeable.

Her eyes narrowed the second she laid eyes on Cobb.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Janie asked, venom lacing every word.

"Sweetie, remember, no foul language around the baby," Arthur said as a reflex. It was almost comical.

"Why is he here?" she asked, directing the question towards her husband.

"I've come to take Arthur back with me," Cobb said. Arthur closed his eyes in defeat and braced himself for what he knew would come.

"So you've come to take my Arthur away from me again?" Janie screamed.

"Again?" Cobb asked, looking between the angry pregnant projection and his friend.

"What did I ever do to you, huh?" Janie yelled, moving towards Cobb. She slapped him across the face, and tears started to fall from her eyes. "Why do you have to take him away again?" She started throwing half-hearted punches at him, and Cobb could do nothing to defend himself.

Arthur made a move to try and restrain Janie, but she just screamed "Don't!" and continued her assault on Cobb.

"I love him! We were supposed to get married! Have a family together!" Janie continued screaming at Cobb. "Why did you have to go and get your wife killed and need to take him away from me?"

The mention of Mal struck a cord in Cobb, and he made a move to strike Janie, but Arthur was quick and stepped between them, throwing a solid right hand at Cobb.

"What the hell!" Cobb exclaimed, completely surprised that Arthur would do such a thing to protect a projection. But then again, she wasn't just any projection.

"Don't touch her," Arthur said in a low voice. He had wrapped his arms around a sobbing Janie, trying to whisper comforting words as he shot daggers at Cobb.

"You're not leaving me, are you, baby?" Janie asked Arthur in tears.

"Of course not, my angel," he cooed. "I'm never leaving you and Emma ever again."

"Arthur!" Cobb yelled indignantly. "You can't stay here! She's not real!"

"Fuck you!" Janie screamed over Arthur's shoulder. "We're his family. He loves us. We love him. Our baby needs a father! Why should he leave us for a man who never even took the time to get to know him and find out that he was engaged and a soon-to-be-father! Do you even know his last name?"

Both Arthur and Cobb were stunned. Cobb at the truthfulness behind the statements, and Arthur at the fact that he didn't even know he held so much resentment at his friend subconsciously.

"Exactly," Janie spat. She turned to look at Arthur and her voice softened, "Please don't leave me, baby. Don't leave us again."

"Arthur, we should go," Cobb said.

"I… I can't, Cobb. I just… I can't," Arthur said, completely torn between what his heart felt and what logic was telling him.

"She's not real, Arthur. She's a projection, just like Mal was. And they're gone now, there's nothing either of us can do about it, but move on and let her go," Cobb tried to reason.

"But that's not completely true, is it baby?" Janie asked, sniffling a little.

"What is she talking about?" Cobb asked warily.

"I'm not really gone," Janie revealed. She took a step away from Arthur, looking between the two men. She turned to Arthur. "You left me, you left _us_… but we're still out there somewhere. And that's why you come here, isn't it, baby? Every single time, you come back to us here. Because you're too afraid to look for us in the real world," Janie said. Gone was the pleading, the yelling. She was telling him the straight facts that Arthur hadn't wanted to face, so he had buried it deep into his subconscious. Cobb felt out of this place during this personal revelation of Arthur's, but couldn't take his eyes off his friend.

"For all you know we could be alive out there somewhere," Janie continued, staring straight at Arthur, who refused to look her in the eye. "We could be on the side of the street in some city, or happy with a new man in our lives. But you're just too chicken to find out for yourself. And until you do, you'll continue to come back to these dreams. These second-best memories that will continue to haunt you until your dying day. You hide behind your cool exterior, so organized, so logical, so you don't have to deal with the guilt that you left us. Because you think that if you can organize everything in your life you won't have to deal with all these emotions that you keep bottled up. It's funny you try so hard to to forget about us in the real world, yet you come here to try and relive it. But you know, no matter how many times you come back to us here, you'll never see her face." She placed both hands on her protruding belly. "You'll never get to see your daughter's face, she'll never know you. And no matter how many times you come to see us, when you wake up, we still won't be there."

"Arthur," Cobb said softly. There were two tears slowly running down Arthur's face, as he still refused to look Janie in the face.

"Look at me, Arthur," Janie demanded softly.

When he looked up, Janie looked at him without any emotion and pulled out a pistol, pointing it directly at Arthur's heart.

"Hey," Cobb started to say, but Janie seamlessly pointed the gun and shot him in the head, waking him up from the dream.

She pointed it back at Arthur before he could react, not that he would have. He was fully aware that he was in a dream now.

"Janie," Arthur said softly, slowly walking towards her. She didn't lower her pistol. "My sweet, darling Janie." The pistol was now directly against his chest, over his quickly-beating heart. He dared give her one last kiss on her forehead. "I love you, my Angel."

And she pulled the trigger.

Arthur gasped as he awoke with a start, back in the dark, dingy motel room. He looked around and saw Cobb staring at him.

"One hell of a dream, huh?" Cobb commented lightly. "I didn't know there was so much about you I didn't know."

"Yeah, you never asked," Arthur replied as he pulled out his totem. "Why do you think I never pressed you on the Mal issue?" He threw the dice. Four. A second time. Four. And a third. Four.

"You know what you're gonna do about her?" Cobb asked. Arthur nodded as he started to pack away the PASIV, and what few personal belongings he had unpacked in the motel room.

As he got up to leave, Cobb called out, "Gordon. I looked in your wallet. Your last name is Gordon."

Arthur smiled before walking out the door and to his new outlook on life.


End file.
